Photonics Dictionary: C

A gas laser in which the energy-state transitions between vibrational and rotational states of CO2 molecules give emission at long IR, about 10 µm, wavelengths. The laser can maintain...

A rapid change, as opposed to a long-term drift, of the emission wavelength of an optical source. Chirping is most often observed in pulsed operation of a source.

Chromatic aberration is an optical phenomenon that occurs when different wavelengths (colors) of light are refracted by a lens or optical system, leading to a failure to focus all colors to the same...

The phenomenon observed by A.H. Compton in 1923 -- that some scattered radiation possesses a longer wavelength and correspondingly smaller frequency than the incident radiation. It may be described...

1. In detector technology, the long wavelength at which detector response falls to a set percentage (usually 20 or 50 percent). 2. In fiber optics, the shortest wavelength at which a fiber transmits...